Obama’s Advocacy Group Under Fire Rejects Corporate Donors

Organizing for Action, the advocacy
group formed after President Barack Obama’s re-election
campaign, reversed course and said it won’t take corporate
contributions to help fund its activities.

The announcement by Chairman Jim Messina in an article he
wrote for CNN.com didn’t offer any reasons for the change in
policy. His comments today followed criticism from several
organizations that back stronger campaign-finance rules.

“We have now decided not to accept contributions from
corporations, federal lobbyists or foreign donors,” Messina
wrote. Political action committee donations also are banned.

Organizing for Action was formed as a nonprofit group
under Section 501(c)(4) of the tax code, allowing it to accept
unlimited corporate, union and individual contributions and keep
its benefactors hidden from public view. The group from the
start promised to voluntarily list its donors, including
corporations, and to refuse money from lobbyists and PACs.

Fred Wertheimer, a longtime proponent of tougher campaign-
funding laws, called Organizing for Action “an unprecedented
vehicle for potential influence-buying, influence-selling and
government scandals.” Common Cause President Bob Edgar, a
former Democratic congressman from Pennsylvania, said Obama’s
supporters “should go back to the drawing board.” Common Cause
is an advocacy group that also backs new curbs on fundraising.

Fundamental Issues

Wertheimer called today’s decision “appropriate,” while
also saying there are still “fundamental problems” with the
group.

“The unlimited amounts provided to OFA create
opportunities for individual donors and bundlers to buy
corrupting influence over the Obama administration’s policies
and decisions,” Wertheimer said in a statement. “At a minimum,
they create the appearance that opportunities for such
corrupting influence exist.”

In his daily briefing on March 4, White House spokesman Jay Carney defended the group against allegations that it was
offering meetings with Obama to top donors.

“Any notion that there is a set price for a meeting with
the president of the United States is just wrong,” Carney said.

Rebalancing Power

Messina, who managed the president’s re-election effort,
said every donor of $250 or more will be listed quarterly with
the amount of his or her contribution. “We believe in being
open and transparent,” he wrote on CNN.com.

Organizing for Action was formed “to rebalance the power
structure” away from special interests, Messina wrote.

“For every lobbying group that puts a dollar on the air
tearing down the president’s agenda, an Organizing for Action
volunteer will mobilize to counter it,” he wrote. “Instead of
coming from the highest paid lobbyists on K Street, change will
come from Americans organizing across the nation.”

Messina said contributors won’t be guaranteed access to the
White House or any officials, though they may receive the same
briefings that the administration gives to others.

“These are not opportunities to lobby -- they are
briefings on the positions the president has taken and the
status of seeing them through,” Messina wrote.